Donald Trump Jr ally Sergio Gor offered top White House personnel job: report
One of Donald Trump Jr.’s allies and business partners has reportedly been offered a key position in his father’s second term in the White House. Sergio Gor is expected to lead the Presidential Personnel Office and will be tasked with aiding President-elect Donald Trump in recruiting, vetting and nominating thousands of political appointees across the federal government, according to a report. “Awesome news. Sergio will be great!” Trump Jr. posted on the social media platform X in response to the news, first reported by Semafor. As president and co-founder of Trump Jr.’s publishing company, Gor is part of President-elect Trump’s latest efforts in assembling a second administration full of allies, loyalists and other supporters. TRUMP’S PICKS SO FAR: HERE’S WHO WILL BE ADVISING THE NEW PRESIDENT Trump has previously said that the biggest mistake of his first presidency was picking disloyal people to join his administration. “The biggest mistake I made was I picked some people – I picked some great people, you know, but you don’t think about that. I picked some people that I shouldn’t have picked,” Trump said last month on the “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast. TRUMP’S SPEEDY CABINET PICKS SHOW HIS ‘PRIORITY TO PUT AMERICA FIRST,’ TRANSITION TEAM SAYS “I picked a few people that I shouldn’t have picked,” he said. Not only did Gor help publish books by the former and future president, he also left his position as a longtime aide to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to join the finance committee for Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign. In 2021, Gor also officiated a wedding in California for Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., another Trump ally who Trump recently tapped to be his nominee for attorney general. Gaetz has since resigned from the House of Representatives after his selection for the Department of Justice, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., announced. Gor is among the latest in a string of announced picks for Trump’s new administration. The president-elect has also picked, among others, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., for national security adviser and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., for secretary of state. Tesla CEO and billionaire endorser Elon Musk and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy are expected to lead Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency. Fox News’ Bonny Chu contributed to this report.
Why Democrats’ abortion messaging failed to resonate in Texas, despite unpopular bans
Texas’ strict abortion bans made it “ground zero” for Democrats hoping to rile up their base, but voters prioritized economic issues.
Big Oil breaks with Trump on potential second withdrawal from Paris climate agreement
Big Oil is calling on President-elect Donald Trump to keep the U.S. in the Paris climate agreement after withdrawing from the treaty during his first term. The Paris Agreement, established at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in 2015, is a legally binding treaty between nearly 195 parties who are committed to international cooperation on climate change. Trump officially withdrew from the treaty in 2020, but the U.S. was reinstated to the climate agreement in 2021 after President Biden took office. After winning a second term in the 2024 election, Trump is expected to consider a second withdrawal from the agreement. However, some oil companies have expressed opposition to the idea. TRUMP TO INSTALL ‘ENERGY CZAR’ TO DISMANTLE BIDEN CLIMATE RULES: REPORT When Trump first announced plans to withdraw from the climate agreement in 2017, then-CEO of Shell, Ben van Beurden, was opposed to the idea. “We believe climate change is real,” van Beurden told NPR. “We believe that the world needs to go through an energy transition to prevent a very significant rise in global temperatures. And we need to be part of that solution in making it happen.” Ahead of his upcoming second term, Trump is facing renewed calls to consider remaining in the international climate agreement. BIDEN ADMIN SAYS CLIMATE CHANGE POSES NATIONAL SECURITY RISKS, SENDS DELEGATION TO ADDRESS THEM “I don’t think the stops and starts are the right thing for businesses,” Darren Woods, CEO of oil giant ExxonMobil, recently told the Wall Street Journal. “It is extremely inefficient. It creates a lot of uncertainty.” Woods also suggested that it’s not good for business “to have the pendulum swing back and forth as administrations change.” Asked about whether Trump should consider staying in the agreement, the American Petroleum Institute told Fox News Digital they support the treaty’s ambitions. “We have long supported the ambitions of the Paris Agreement, including global action to reduce greenhouse emissions and alleviate poverty around the world,” an API spokesperson told Fox. “The U.S. leads the world in producing energy and reducing emissions, and our industry remains focused on accelerating that progress.” The Trump campaign confirmed to Politico in June that the president-elect would be in favor of once again removing the U.S. from the agreement if elected to a second term. Fox News Digital reached out to Chevron, TotalEnergies and BP for comment but did not hear back by press time.
Top GOP senators warn DOJ to preserve Jack Smith docs in Trump cases, citing ‘past destruction’ of records
Top Republican senators are telling officials in the Department of Justice to ensure that all records concerning the investigation into President-elect Donald Trump by Special Counsel Jack Smith are preserved ahead of the new administration. “[C]onsidering the Justice Department’s past destruction of federal records relevant to congressional oversight and political bias infecting its decision-making process, we request that you preserve all records related to the Justice Department’s criminal investigations of former President Trump by Special Counsel Smith,” wrote Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., in a letter to Smith, Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray. THUNE SAYS TRUMP’S BORDER PLAN IS 1ST UP IN RIGOROUS PRIORITY LIST FOR NEW CONGRESS: ‘REAL WORK BEGINS’ “The improper conduct of the past cannot be repeated in this matter; therefore, all records must be preserved so that Congress can perform an objective and independent review.” Smith led federal investigations into Trump’s possession of classified documents and federal election interference before introducing charges. After Trump decisively won the presidential election last week against Vice President Kamala Harris, Smith filed a motion to vacate all deadlines in the 2020 election interference case against Trump, which was widely expected . MATT GAETZ FACES GOP SENATE OPPOSITION AFTER TRUMP SELECTION FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL The case has not yet been officially dropped, but Smith claimed his team plans to give an updated report on its official status on Dec. 2. Smith also filed a motion in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to halt his previous request to appeal the classified documents case after it was dismissed by U.S. Judge Aileen Cannon. THUNE WINS SECRET BALLOT TO BECOME NEW SENATE GOP LEADER, SUCCEEDING MCCONNELL Grassley and Johnson noted in their correspondence that in 2020, released DOJ records revealed that cell phones of multiple people on then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigative team were “wiped” for various reasons during its probe into Trump. According to the records at the time, the devices were wiped of information because of forgotten passcodes, irreparable screen damage, loss of the device, intentional deletion or other reasons before they could be reviewed. RICK SCOTT KNOCKED OUT OF SENATE LEADER RACE ON FIRST BALLOT AS THUNE AND CORNYN ADVANCE “In addition, Senator Grassley’s oversight exposed that during the FBI’s investigation of Secretary Clinton’s mishandling of highly classified information, the FBI agreed to destroy any records that were not turned over to the investigatory team and agreed to destroy laptops associated with Secretary Clinton’s staff,” they wrote. The DOJ did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Ohio House passes bill that would restrict transgender student access to school bathrooms
The Ohio state Senate has passed a bill that would prevent schools from allowing students of the opposite sex into restrooms and locker rooms. The legislation, which requires Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to sign in order to become law, aims to restrict transgender students from using facilities associated with their gender identities. Senate Bill 104, the Protect All Students Act, was voted 24-7 Wednesday on a party-line vote. The House version of the bill was passed before the chamber went on summer break in June. STEPHEN A. SMITH SAYS ‘WE ARE SICK’ OF ‘TRANSGENDER ISSUES AND CULTURE WARS’ AFTER TEASING PRESIDENTIAL BID DeWine has 10 days to sign the bill into law or veto it. The governor has said he’s inclined to sign the bill, but will conduct a legal review first, the Associated Press reports. The bill applies to public K-12 schools and institutions of higher education. It requires schools to designate separate bathrooms, locker rooms and overnight accommodations “for the exclusive use” of either males and females, based on one’s gender assigned at or near birth, in both school buildings and facilities used for a school-sponsored event. The passage of the bill was welcomed by Republicans, including state Sen. Jerry Cirino, who said the bill “is about safety and security,” while the ACLU of Ohio condemned it as a violation of the right of privacy of LGBTQ+ Ohioans that will make them less safe. “We are incredibly disheartened by the Ohio General Assembly’s continuous attacks against transgender and gender non-conforming individuals across Ohio,” Jocelyn Rosnick, policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio said in a statement. INSIDE SAN JOSE STATE’S POLICE BATTLE TO PROTECT WOMEN’S ATHLETES THREATENED BY A TRANSGENDER CULTURE WAR “Senate Bill 104 is a cruel invasion of students’ rights to privacy, which could result in unwarranted governmental disclosures of private, personal information.” The group called on DeWine to veto the bill and said it is “closely considering next steps. The Center for Christian Virtue, a lobbying organization focused upon implementing conservative Christian sexual morality, commended legislators for passing the bill and called on DeWine to sign it. “Today is a huge victory for children and families in Ohio,” CCV Policy Director David Mahan said in a statement, adding that it will guarantee the only people entering young ladies’ private spaces are female, “not men claiming to be female.” Cirino, who introduced S.B. 104, which revises the state’s college credits program, says the legislation was about common sense. “It protects our children and grandchildren in private spaces where they are most vulnerable,” Cirino said, per the Ohio Capital Journal. “It is us using our legislative authority to ensure schools are, in fact, safe environments. After all, bathrooms, showers, changing rooms should all be safe places for our students.” Various battles regarding the issue of transgender people using bathrooms that align with their gender as well as participating in female sports are playing out across the nation. President-elect Trump has repeatedly vowed to keep men out of women’s sports. At least 11 states have adopted laws barring transgender girls and women from girls’ and women’s bathrooms in public schools and, in some cases, other government facilities. The laws are in effect in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah. A judge’s order putting enforcement on hold is in place in Idaho. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
FBI arrests Houston man for alleged ISIS ties, terror plot on US soil
A Texas man is in FBI custody on Thursday after authorities say he attempted to support ISIS and planned a terrorist attack on American soil – all from his apartment in Houston. Authorities said 28-year-old Anas Said was searching for ways to commit violent acts on behalf of the Islamic State in the Houston area. He has been charged with attempting to provide material support to the terrorist group. Said was arrested last week at the apartment complex where he lived, according to FBI Special Agent in Charge Douglas Williams. Williams said that while in custody, Said admitted to researching how to conduct an attack on local military recruiting centers, offering his home as sanctuary for ISIS operatives, bragging that he would commit a “9/11-style” attack if he had the resources and attempting to produce ISIS propaganda. “We stopped a potential terrorist attack from happening right here in Houston! Any day we can publicly say that is a good day,” FBI Houston said. This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Florida AG files lawsuit against FEMA over alleged political discrimination against Trump supporters
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has filed a lawsuit against current and former officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for allegedly ordering its workers to ignore storm victims who support President-elect Trump. The revelation made headlines following whistle-blower reports that FEMA workers in Lake Placid, Florida, were told to skip over households of storm victims who showed support for Trump. “FEMA workers followed these instructions and entered in a government database messages such as ‘Trump sign no entry per leadership,’” the lawsuit states. “According to whistleblowers, ‘at least 20 homes with Trump signs or flags’ in Lake Placid, Florida ‘were skipped from the end of October and into November due to the guidance.’” Moody vowed to investigate the allegations as Floridians still face the threat of damaging storms this season. FEMA OFFICIAL FIRED FOR TELLING STAFF TO AVOID HELPING TRUMP SUPPORTERS SAYS AGENCY SCAPEGOATING HER “Hurricane season is not over, and the federal agency in charge of emergency response is embroiled in scandal – caught withholding aid from storm victims in Florida who support President Trump,” the attorney general said. “I am taking swift legal action to find out how far this political discrimination reaches and to make sure all Americans who fall victim to devastating storms are served, regardless of their political affiliation.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he supports the legal action and further instructed other state agencies to take “any action necessary” to investigate and hold alleged wrongdoers accountable. “It’s unacceptable for the federal government to discriminate against Floridians who voted for Trump, and especially egregious in the aftermath of a hurricane,” he said. When Fox News Digital reached FEMA for comment about the legal action, a FEMA spokesperson said, “FEMA does not comment on pending litigation,” and provided a statement that FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell issued over the weekend about the incident and the firing of the employee. FIRED FEMA EMPLOYEE SAYS INSTRUCTIONS TO SKIP TRUMP HOMES WERE PART OF ‘COLOSSAL AVOIDANCE’ POLICY On Saturday, Criswell confirmed to Fox News Digital that the employee had been fired, calling her actions “reprehensible” and a clear violation of FEMA’s core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation. A FEMA spokesperson told Fox News on Friday that the agency was “deeply disturbed” by the fired worker’s actions but insisted it was an “isolated incident.” The fired FEMA supervisor, Marn’i Washington, has said her actions were consistent with agency guidance and were not isolated to her team alone and claimed FEMA is scapegoating her. “Why is this coming down on me? I am the person that jotted down the notes from my superiors and my notation in [Microsoft] Teams chat was exposed from their search capacity team,” Washington told “Fox News @ Night” on Wednesday. The lawsuit is seeking punitive damages against Washington and Criswell in their individual capacities. Fox News Digital’s Gabriel Hays, Michael Dorgan, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, and Peter Pinedo contributed to this report.
Oregon Democrat unseats GOP incumbent in toss-up House race, narrowing Republicans’ majority
Oregon Republican Rep. Lori-Chavez-DeRemer has been ousted by Democratic challenger state Rep. Janelle Bynum in the state’s 5th Congressional District, The Associated Press projected Thursday, more than a week after Election Day. The win narrows the Republican majority in the House to 218 seats to Democrats’ 209. With 94% reporting as of Thursday, Bynum led by more than two points, with 184,023 votes to Chavez-DeRemer’s 174,448, a difference of 9,575 votes. The race was rated a toss-up by the Fox News Power Rankings. Chavez-DeRemer was elected to Congress in 2022, defeating her Democratic opponent by two points. With the victory, Chavez-DeRemer became the first woman to represent Oregon in the House of Representatives. Bynum, who previously defeated Chavez-DeRemer in Oregon legislature races multiple times, was elected to the Oregon House in 2016 and has served on the chamber’s small business committee. She is also the owner of four McDonald’s franchises. PACIFIC NORTHWEST COULD DECIDE WHICH PARTY CONTROLS THE HOUSE The two candidates engaged in a contentious race in recent months, with Bynum attempting to link Chavez-DeRemer to President-elect Donald Trump and her position on abortion, as the congresswoman hit Bynum on crime and illegal immigration. Last month, it was first reported by Fox News Digital that Bynum was the subject of an ethics complaint for allegedly failing to properly report allegations of sexual harassment and assault against a PAC staffer that worked on her campaign. Bynum has denied those allegations, which the two candidates sparred over in multiple debates. ‘INCENDIARY DEVICE’ SPARKS FIRE AT PORTLAND, OREGON BALLOT BOX Election experts predicted that the race between Chavez-DeRemer and Bynum could play a key role in deciding which party controls Congress. High-profile figures campaigned for both candidates in the campaign’s closing weeks, with GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson rallying with Chavez-DeRemer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries stumping for Bynum. Oregon’s recently redrawn 5th Congressional District covers Linn County, most of Clackamas, Deschutes, and parts of Multnomah and Marion counties.
RNC files two lawsuits in Pennsylvania amid Sen Bob Casey refusing to concede race
The Republican National Committee (RNC) filed two new lawsuits in Pennsylvania after several state boards of elections voted to count several undated mail ballots following the state supreme court’s ruling on the issue. The two suits come in light of Democrat incumbent Sen. Bob Casey refusing to concede the tightly run race to his GOP challenger, Sen.-elect Dave McCormick. “Tonight the RNC is filing two new lawsuits — in Bucks County and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court — to STOP the counting of illegal ballots. We have won this court battle several times already,” GOP Chairman Michael Whatley tweeted on X Wednesday evening. “The RNC is filing a motion in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to ensure that Pennsylvania’s democratic process is not undermined by the inclusion of illegal ballots in the final vote count,” Whatley said in a statement released. “Pennsylvanians are ready to move forward with Dave McCormick representing them in the Senate as Bob Casey torches whatever legacy he had with these anti-democratic schemes.” CASEY CAMPAIGN, REFUSING TO CONCEDE, ACCUSES MCCORMICK OF TRYING TO ‘DISENFRANCHISE’ VOTERS WITH LAWSUITS The Philadelphia City Commissioners told Fox News Digital in a statement that several Pennsylvania county boards of elections, including Philadelphia, had voted to count a “relatively small number of undated and incorrectly dated mail ballots.” “Republicans filed a petition to the PA Supreme Court against all counties to attempt to stop all counties from counting these ballots,” the statement said. “They also filed a statutory appeal challenging Bucks County’s decision to count undated and incorrectly dated mail ballots. We are reviewing the filings.” The Pennsylvania Supreme Court previously sided with the GOP in its effort to block the counting of undated mail-in ballots ahead of the 2024 general election. PENNSYLVANIA SENATE RACE TRIGGERS RECOUNT, WITH MCCORMICK PROJECTED TO WIN AND CASEY YET TO CONCEDE “It’s ridiculous,” an RNC official told Fox News Digital. “The court just ruled on this two weeks ago. And it’s just very clear to us that Democrat lawyers and officials see a way to kind of make money off of Bob Casey by trying out this process, but Dave McCormick is already in D.C. to attend Senate orientation.” Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt announced in a press statement Wednesday that the “unofficial results in the Nov. 5 general election race for U.S. Senate” had triggered an automatic statewide recount. As of Wednesday, Casey had won 3,350,972 votes (48.50%), while McCormick had won 3,380,310 votes (48.93%), according to the statement released. BOB CASEY REFUSES TO CONCEDE PA SENATE RACE AS SCHUMER WELCOMES REPUBLICAN MCCORMICK AMONG NEW SENATORS Once the counties have finalized counting their ballots, they must begin their recounts no later than Wednesday, Sept. 20 and finish by Nov. 26 at noon. Results reports must then be submitted to the secretary by noon on Nov. 27. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling effectively overturned a decision from a Commonwealth Court just days ahead of the Nov. 5 election, which held that the state law requiring a handwritten date was unconstitutional. The Pennsylvania GOP appealed that ruling to the state supreme court. Pennsylvania Republicans applauded the ruling at the time, saying Democrats have repeatedly tried to subvert the dating requirement. “The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the law, and the dated ballot requirement will be in effect for this election. Democrats have repeatedly tried to eliminate this important ballot safeguard, and we have stopped them each time,” Whatley said in a statement at the time.
Democrats trash Tulsi Gabbard after Trump taps her for DNI post
Some Democratic lawmakers blasted former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard after President-elect Donald Trump tapped her to serve as director of national intelligence, a cabinet-level post. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., declared in a post on X that she was “appalled” by the selection of Gabbard for the role. “Not only is she ill-prepared and unqualified, but she traffics in conspiracy theories and cozies up to dictators like Bashar-al Assad and Vladimir Putin,” Spanberger claimed in a post on X. TRUMP APPOINTS TULSI GABBARD AS DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: ‘FEARLESS SPIRIT’ Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., called the choice of Gabbard as DNI “incredibly reckless,” declaring in a tweet, “Putting someone with known sympathies for foreign adversaries is not putting America’s interests first – it’s putting our security at risk.” Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., seemed to suggest that having Gabbard serve as DNI would place national secrets at risk. “Tulsi Gabbard’s deep ties to some of our nation’s most dangerous adversaries, including Bashar al-Assad of Syria and Vladimir Putin of Russia, make her an untrustworthy guardian of our nation’s most closely held secrets,” Magaziner said in the statement. “As the highest-ranking intelligence official in the federal government, she would have access to information spanning everything from our nation’s nuclear weapons program to the location and activities of our military service members, and we cannot risk this information falling into the hands of our adversaries,” he asserted. TRANS ATHLETES IN WOMEN’S SPORTS WILL GET ‘RADICALLY WORSE’ UNDER A HARRIS PRESIDENCY, WARNS TULSI GABBARD Gabbard served in the U.S. House of Representatives from early 2013 through early 2021 as a Democrat. She mounted a presidential bid in 2019 but ultimately dropped out in 2020 and backed Joe Biden. The former lawmaker supported Trump during the 2024 election and announced that she was joining the Republican Party. “I’ve been a soldier for over 21 years, and currently serve as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserve,” she noted in a post on Veterans Day this week. TULSI GABBARD SAYS TRUMP ‘LISTENS’ AND ‘RECOGNIZES’ CHALLENGES AMERICANS FACE “The best way for us to honor our veterans, not just on #VeteransDay, but every day, is to make sure that our men and women in uniform are only sent into harms’ way as a last resort when all diplomatic measures have been exhausted, and actually take care of them and their families, if and when they return home,” she noted. Fox News Digital attempted to reach out to Gabbard for comment on Thursday.